Her Early Days
by Reina Grayson
Summary: Tells about Reiena and Dick before they become the heroes Cardinal and Robin, and even some into their first battle as superheros. Some of the story is a combo between Batman:The Animated Series and The Batman. Title changed from Her Circus Days.
1. Chapter 1

Her Circus Days

Haley's Circus was a place for people to go and watch as the performers in the circus did amazing feats of aerial, and ground skill. The main attraction at the circus was the Flying Graysons. This acrobatic team consisted of a husband and wife, along with their son. John, Mary, and Dick Grayson amazed audiences every night with wonderful aerial acrobatics.

The act that could rival the Flying Graysons was a very young fire eater, Reiena Grayson. She was only 8 years old, but already an accomplished fire eater. Reiena didn't like heights much, so she never joined her twin brother on the trapeze along with her parents.

3 Years Ago

Reiena and Dick were excited to be watching their parents rehearse their act, but as Mary was getting ready to release her trapeze, her hands slipped and she fell, Reiena looked away, but Dick watched as their mother fell into the net below the trapeze.

"It's alright, sis, look mom's okay." Dick said as he touched his sister's shoulder. When Reiena turned around, she saw her mother standing on the ground, and went running over to her. Mary bent down and hugged her daughter.

"Oh mom, I was so scared, I don't like heights, anything can happen up there." Reiena explained to her mom as tears began to lightly pour down her cheeks.

"It's alright sweetie, you don't have to join us on the trapeze if you don't want to. We'll find something else for you to do so you can perform on the ground." Mary hugged the little girl one more time, then released her and stood up. "You don't have to watch us rehearse if you don't want to. Why don't you and Dick go play?"

With that, Reiena grabbed her brother by the arm and drug him out of the tent. The two started playing hide and seek, and at a circus, this was going to be fun.

"Not 'It'." Reiena cried out as she ran off after releasing Dick's arm. Dick gave a sigh; he hated being 'it'. He turned around and counted to ten, and when he reached ten, he turned back around and took off in the direction Reiena did.

Dick spent thirty minutes looking for Reiena, and then finally found her; she had gone into the tent where the fire eater was practicing. She had not hidden, she was watching the fire eater with an awe struck look on her face. Dick walked over to her, and touched her shoulder. She jumped in surprise, and turned to face him.

"I know what I want to do for the circus; I want to go tell mom and dad." Reiena said as she then bolted out of the tent. Dick gave an aggravated sigh as he left out after her, she can be a handful when she wants to be.

By the time Dick arrived at the main tent, Reiena was already telling her mom, in such a hyper way, that she wanted to train with the fire eater and become one herself.

"Honey, that's one of the most dangerous acts in the circus, are you sure?" John said as he bent down to meet the girl's eyes.

"Yes daddy, I'm sure, it's amazing, and I know if I practice enough, I can do it." Reiena said as she balled her fists and stared right at her father.

John looked at Mary, and she just nodded her head.

"Alright sweetheart, let's go talk to Dave." John said as he saw his daughter's eyes light up. He grabbed her hand and the two of them walked out of the main tent to go talk to Dave about him training Reiena.

1 year ago

The circus bleachers were packed, and everyone was excited about seeing the youngest fire eater/breather. This was Reiena's debut, and she couldn't be more excited, and nervous. She was wearing a t-shirt, and cargo shorts; she wanted to be comfortable since this was her first performance.

The elephant act was finishing up, and the ringmaster stepped into the middle ring.

"And now, we have a very special performance for you this evening. Our very own, Reiena Grayson has been training for this day, and I'd like to present her and her fire eating act. Reiena is a very talented 7 year old, as she will soon show you." The ringmaster said as he jestered toward the entrance Reiena was waiting at. She came out holding 3 fire eating torches, unlit, and was waving to the crowd.

Reiena walked up beside the ringmaster, and he held up a cigarette lighter. He then lit it, and placed it under the torches in the young girl's hand, and left the ring.

The young fire eater then when into her routine, she started with some vapor work, the ringmaster walked back toward her with a small cigarette in his hand, and she then released the vapor, and the flame flew out enough to light the cigarette. Next, she decided to do one extinguishing. She took one of the torches, and placed it in her mouth. The crowd watched as she then closed her mouth around the torch. She removed the torch and it was not lit anymore.

The crowd clapped and yelled in amazement, and now was time for her finale, putting out the other two torches in her hand, so she held the torches apart, in one hand and grabbed the tip of one with the other. When she did, she heard several gasps from the audience, but she wasn't worried, she removed her hand to show it to the audience, and it was unmarked. The crowd then started clapping again, and Reiena went ahead and put out the other one. When her pulled her hand away, she then bowed, signaling that her performance was over.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, that was Reiena Grayson." The ringmaster said as he began addressing the audience. Reiena then left the middle ring.

Her family was waiting backstage for her to return, and when she walked out of the audience's sight, she was attacked with a family hug.

"You were great sis, still wish you could join us up on the trapeze." Dick said as he was the first to release her.

"No way." Reiena replied as she gave her brother a 'don't dare say that again' look

"Honey that was just wonderful, Dave has trained you well." John said as he and Mary released their daughter at the same time.

"Dave tells us you're working on a new routine but it's won't be ready till next year." Mary stated

"That's right, Dave thinks I can take my act further." Reiena said as she looked at her parents and saw a look of approval and love on each of their faces.


	2. Chapter 2

Just wanted to tell this before you read. This idea just came to me, and some parts, I took from Batman the animated series, and modified them to have Reiena in them. I just couldn't think of anything besides this. I hate when that happens

I don't own Batman, Robin, Batman the animated Series, or Young Justice, just a fangirl doing what she loves, using her imagination.

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><p>Chapter 2<p>

Present Day

Haley's Circus had returned to Gotham, and Reiena was ready to show everyone her new act. Today was also a big day for Dick, as it was his debut in the Flying Graysons act.

They were walking past old man Haley's trailer when they heard arguing. One of the voices was Old Man Haley himself, the other they didn't recognize. Just as they got close to the door of the trailer, the door flung open, and almost hit Reiena, but Dick stopped it before it could. The two then hid under the trailer.

"You'll be sorry for not getting protection, Haley; you know that all kinds of accidents can happen in a circus." The other man said as he came walking down the stairs.

"Zucco, I'm not going to pay you anything, and my circus has never had an accident." Haley hollered after the man. Zucco kept walking and was out of site.

Haley then walked back into his trailer and slammed the door. The kids watched to make sure Haley wasn't coming back, and then they crawled out from their hiding place, looked at each other, and then went back to walking to the main tent.

When they arrived at the main tent, they started walking toward their parents, but one of the workers, who was now finished, walked past them, and when they saw his face, they knew they had to tell their parents now.

"Mom, Dad." The twins hollered at the same time.

"What is it kids?" John said as he was the first of the couple to turn around.

"We have to tell you about what happened." Reiena said as she looked her dad right in the eyes.

"Yea, something …" Dick started but just then the ringmaster came up to the family.

"Time to get ready; Dick, Reiena, I can't wait to see your performances." The ringmaster informed them.

"We have to tell you something." Dick said, but his parents were walking toward their trailer to get ready.

"We'll talk about it later, kids, let's go get ready." Mary said as she disappeared from the tent. The twins looked at each other with sadness on their faces then followed their parents.

Showtime

The Graysons were nervous and the parents had every right; tonight was Dick's Debut on the trapeze, and Reiena was unveiling her new fire act. Bruce Wayne, Gotham's billionaire playboy, had come to the circus because he heard of the two new additions to the show.

Everything went smoothly, and it was time for Reiena to show everyone, including her family, her new routine. The ringmaster introduced her, and she arrived in the middle ring, not with fire eating torches, but 2 chains with handles on them. Before the ringmaster left, he lit the chains' wicking and left out. Reiena starting moving the chains and the fire seemed to dance around her in circles. The crowd was awe struck to see an 8 year old doing that, but they were reassured when the saw one of the clowns with a fire extinguisher incase anything went wrong. Bruce was watching particularly close, he saw happiness on the girl's face as if she was doing what she loved.

Reiena finished up and took a bow. She then walked out of the center ring and into the employees only area.

Her family was not there, but that was because they were on right after her. The Flying Graysons were the circus's best acrobats. Tonight was special as the Flying Graysons were adding their son to the act. Dick was happy, he finally got to do what his parents did.

The act was going smoothly, but just as Dick was about to swing out, the trapeze rope snapped. John and Mary went plummeting toward the ground, and all their children could do was watch in horror. Their bodies hit the ground with a loud thud, and the crowd was on its feet in shock. Bruce was the most shocked, after staring at the bodies for a moment, he looked in the direction Reiena went then up to Dick. Both children, although Bruce couldn't see Reiena, were on their knees crying, staring at their parents' bodies in the middle of the center ring. Dick had begun to climb down the ladder and Reiena came running out of the employees section.

The twins arrived at their parents bodies and knew that they were gone, the two just stayed there crying. When the police arrived, the kids were still there at their parents' sides. The policemen had to move them, and they fought hard to stay with their mother and father, but they couldn't get free.

The kids sat in the open police car while everyone else was inside the tent. All of a sudden, a shadow came up beside Reiena and she jumped.

"There's no need to be scared, my name is Bruce Wayne. I'm sorry about what happened to your parents." Bruce said as he bent down so the kids could see his face. His gaze caught two pairs of tear filled eyes.

"Thank you." The twins said back.

Bruce straightened up and walked over to Commissioner Gordon, his friend Jim, to find out what was being done.

"Hi, Jim, so any clues about what happened, was it just a broken trapeze wire?" Bruce asked his friend.

"We don't think so, Bruce, we got a close look at the rope, and it was cut through." Jim informed his friend.

"We know who did it." Reiena came running out of the car and up to the men. Not far behind her was Dick.

"What do you mean, dear?" Bruce said as he got down on one knee to look the young girl in the eyes.

"Earlier today we heard a fight between Haley and someone name Zucco. Then we saw the same man, Zucco, leaving out of the tent just before we went to get ready." Dick answered as he looked at the commissioner.

"You kids are sure of his name?" Jim asked.

"Yes, we heard Haley say that he wasn't going to pay Zucco anything." Reiena answered this time.

"Okay, kids, we'll look into it. In the meantime, you will be going to the police station so you'll be safe." Jim said. This caused Bruce to think.

"Jim, why don't they come home with me, I'm sure it would be better than the station." Bruce suggested as he looked at the twins again.

"If you think they would be comfortable there, I don't see anything wrong with it." Jim said as he looked at Bruce, then to the kids.

"Can't we stay with the circus?" Reiena asked.

"I'm sorry, dear, but the circus is no place for children without their parents." Jim said. "Take Mr. Wayne to your trailer so you can gather your things."

The twins were sad that they couldn't stay with the only family they knew, but they lead Bruce to their trailer.


	3. Chapter 3

Have a double post for everyone today, Chapters 3 and 4 have been done, just couldn't post, if I wasn't feeling good, I was babysitting, well enjoy.

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><p>Chapter 3<p>

Two Hours Later

The limo arrived outside a huge house. The kids got out of the car and stared in awe at the house, and then Bruce got out.

"Consider this your home kids. By the way, whenever you want me, just call me Bruce." The billionaire said as he stepped up between the twins.

"I'm Dick, this is Reiena; our last name is Grayson." Dick said with a fake smile. Both of them were still really hurt about what happened earlier in the day.

"I know, I saw Reiena do her fire dance, it was beautiful, and Dick, I'm sure you would have done great on the trapeze." Bruce said as he put a hand on each of their shoulders.

"Thanks." They said in unison as they fought back tears.

"Well then, let's go in so Alfred can show you to your rooms." Bruce said as he heard the sadness in their voices.

"Right this way; Master Dick, Miss Reiena." Alfred said as he walked up to the front door, opened it and walked in. Dick and Reiena looked at each other, then followed.

Alfred then started up the stairs, and the kids followed, taking in all the rooms, and beautiful decorations of the house. When they reached the top of the stairs, they turned left, and Alfred stopped at a door.

"This is your room, Master Dick." Alfred said as he opened the door and Dick walked in. His mouth was agape, the room itself was bigger than their trailer. "If you need help settling in, I'll be right down the hall with Miss Reiena."

Alfred and the 8 year old girl then walked a little ways from Dick's room, and came to the next door down the hall. The butler opened the door and Reiena was also amazed, this room was the same size as the one that Dick had. Reiena entered the room, cautiously, and walked over to the bed. She had been carrying a stuffed tiger almost as big as her the whole time; Mary had given it to her after her debut at the circus, last year. She set the tiger on the bed, then as she turned, she saw Dick standing in a separate doorway than she had entered though.

"The rooms connect, neat." Dick said as he looked around his sister's room.

"Yea, I think this is right." Reiena said as all fear about living with a strange billionaire disappeared from her mind.

"Is there anything I can do for you before I leave to start Dinner, children." Alfred asked as he stood in the main door to the room with his hands held behind his back.

The two looked at each other, then Reiena spoke up.

"I think we're fine, Alfred, but thanks. If we need you, we'll find you." The girl said and with that the butler left them alone.

Reiena sat on her bed and started stroking her stuffed tiger's front right paw with her fingers. Dick walked over to her and sat on her right side. The two started to let tears fall as they thought about their parents. The one thing that was coming to Reiena's mind was 'why didn't they always use the net, whether in practice or their act?'

"Dick, remember when I said I'd never be a trapeze artist like mom and dad; well I think today just proved what can happen." Reiena remarked as she looked at her brother with tears pouring out.

"Why would that Zucco guy even do something like this, I can't believe anyone could be so cruel as the cut through a rope just to bully someone into paying him money." Dick said as he looked his sister right in her blue eyes, tears also pouring from his.

"I hope the police find him. He deserves to get caught." Reiena said as she picked up her tiger and hugged it, allowing it to take in her tears.

1 hour later

Alfred had returned to Reiena's room to let her know that dinner was ready. He knocked on the door, but when there was no answer, he opened it. The girl's room was empty, but Alfred could hear the sound of the storm outside as if it were in the house. He looked around, and noticed the balcony door was open. The butler headed over to it, and there, standing in the rain was Reiena, with the heavy wind blowing her shoulder-length raven hair.

"Miss Reiena, are you alright? You shouldn't be out in this storm." Alfred remarked as he stood in the doorway, not wanting to get wet himself.

"I'm okay, Alfred, just hoping this rain could wash away what happened." Reiena answered, she then turned to him, and he could see that the raindrops were mixing with the tears coming from her eyes.

"Why don't you go dry off, and then come on downstairs, dinner is ready. I shall go get Master Dick." The Wayne butler informed her.

"Okay." The girl said as she came inside, after ringing out her hair. She then headed out the door toward the bathroom that was just down the hall.

Alfred watched her as she left out. He knew what she was going though, as he saw this same thing when Bruce lost his parents at her age. He gave a slight sigh, then went to the adjoining door that led to Dick's room.

Dick was in his room, sitting on his bed with a picture frame in his hand. When Alfred got closer, he saw it was a picture of the twins and their parents. They all looked so happy. Alfred then cleared his throat, and Dick jumped, startled a bit.

"Oh, hi Alfred, just looking at our last family portrait." Dick said as he started to wipe his eyes.

"I understand what you are going through, Master Dick. I watched Master Bruce go through the same thing when he was your age." Alfred said as he put a comforting hand on Dick's shoulder.

"I hope the police catch Zucco, Alfred." Dick said as he looked up at the butler.

"I came to tell you that dinner is ready, your sister will be down once she dries off." Alfred said as he walked towards the hallway door.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Dick arrived at the table and sat down in one of the chairs. A couple of minutes later, Reiena came walking in; her hair seemed to be wet.

"What happened to you?" Dick asked as he noticed.

"I was standing on my balcony thinking, then the storm came, but I didn't want to leave." Reiena answered as she sat down in the chair across from her twin.

Alfred started to bring in their plates, but the two children noticed their 'father' was not there.

"I'm afraid Master Bruce has a late meeting, he will not be joining you for dinner." Alfred said as he sat Reiena's plate in front of her.

"Oh." Both kids said at the same time. The two then began to eat in silence. Alfred then left the room and headed for the study.

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Bruce was down in the Batcave, trying to find a lead on Zucco. He didn't take his eyes off the computer screen when Alfred came in.

"Master Bruce, the children were disappointed that you would not be joining them for dinner." Alfred informed his employer.

"I know, Alfred, but I have to catch Zucco. Dick and Reiena don't need this bothering them their whole lives, like it bothered me." Bruce explained as he continued to look over the files on the computer.

"Sir, the children need you more than catching some mobster." Alfred stated.

"I'm doing this for them." Bruce said as he finally turned to face his father-figure.

"I suggest you take tomorrow to spend with them. Maybe it's something all three of you need." Alfred said as he turned to leave the cave.

Bruce didn't say anything and turned back to the computer screen. He couldn't focus on his work though; Alfred had said something that was making Bruce think about the kids.

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About an hour after the kids were though eating, they went back to their rooms. Reiena was still trying to figure out why Zucco would want to do something like cut that rope and make it so their parents fell during the show. She started hugging her stuffed tiger again, but this time, she couldn't cry. It was like she had cried out all her tears. She just kept hugging the tiger, and not a moment later, she fell asleep.

Dick lay on his side in bed, and was fighting back tears, but it wasn't happening. They were falling, and his pillow was soaked. Not too soon after he had lay down, he fell asleep.

2 hours later

Reiena was starting to toss and turn on her bed, still holding her tiger. Tears started to fall from her eyes.

_There was the Grayson family; John, Mary, Dick, and Reiena, they were waiting to perform the trapeze act. All of a sudden, her family disappears, Dick included. She's left alone in the dark, and a second later, Zucco appears. She backs away from him and tried to get away, but Zucco caught her, and then had a gun in his hand. Reiena shook her head and tried to pull away, but Zucco fired the gun._

Reiena shot straight up in bed, tears running down her face, and her stuffed tiger thrown to the floor. What surprised her more was that the sheet covering her was starting to catch fire. She got out from under it, and out of the bed. The fire started to spread over the sheet, and she screamed.

Dick came running into the room and saw this. He ran over to his sister, and tried to pull her to safety, but she didn't move. Her eyes were fixed on the fire, and just as mysteriously as it started, the fire died down.

"What happened?" Dick asked as he looked at Reiena confused.

"I was having a nightmare, about losing mom and dad, and I also lost you. I was in darkness, and Zucco had a gun and shot it at me, next thing I knew, my bed was on fire." Reiena said as she looked at him with the same confused look on her face.

"How did it go out though?" Dick asked as he still looked confused.

"I don't know, but I think I did it some how." Reiena answered.

Just then, Alfred came barreling into the room.

"Miss Reiena, are you alright, I heard a scream?" Alfred asked.

"I just had a nightmare, but also, I think I made my sheets catch fire." Reiena answered as she looked at Dick then back to Alfred.

"How on Earth… I believe we should tell Master Bruce about this." Alfred said as he looked at the twins with a concerned look on his face. He motioned for the children to follow him and they went into the kitchen.

The children sat down at the small island counter as Alfred reached for the phone. He pressed three buttons then waited.

"Master Bruce, we must have a talk, something is happening with Miss Reiena." Alfred spoke after a minute. He then waited another minute to listen to what Bruce was saying, after that, Alfred hung up the phone. "He shall be here in a moment."

The kids looked at each other then down at the counter. A sad look had come across both of their faces. Just then Bruce came walking in.

"What's wrong?" Bruce asked as he looked at the kids.

"I don't really know, Bruce, but I think somehow I set my bedsheets on fire. I also, somehow, able to put it out." Reiena answered.

"What makes you think that?" Bruce retorted.

"I'm not sure, but it happened right after I woke up from a nightmare. When I looked at my sheets, they had just started to catch fire." Reiena stated.

This made Bruce think very hard. How was it that this little girl was able to start a fire and not even know it. He noticed tears were starting to form in Reiena's eyes.

"Don't worry, Reiena, this doesn't change anything. If you did do it, it was an accident. Why don't you and Dick try and get some sleep." Bruce said as he looked at Dick then back to Reiena.

"Okay. I'm sorry about the bed sheets, Bruce." Reiena stated as she and Dick walked out of the room. Bruce watched to make sure they were out of earshot then turned to Alfred.

"Sir, what could be happening?" Alfred asked in concern for the children.

"Looks like little Reiena is a Meta." Bruce responded.

"My word." Alfred stated.

"I'm sure she can control it, after seeing her work with that fire at the circus. Right now, just keep a close eye on her." Bruce said as he started to turn away.

"Of course, Master Bruce. Will you be returning to work?" Alfred questioned.

"Yes, but I think I'll take your advice and spend tomorrow with the kids." Bruce answered.

"Very good, sir." Alfred said as he then left out.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Reiena and Dick returned to her room and entered.

"I think I know why I was drawn to the fire breather act. I never told anyone, but I've loved fire, the colors and what can be done with it. Also, I felt like I could do it naturally." Reiena told her brother as they sat on her bed.

"Maybe. Look, do you want me to sleep in here with you. I'll use my covers to make a pallet. Since we use to share the couch bed in the trailer, you may feel more comfortable." Dick said as he thought, then remembered how they never had nightmares when they were growing up.

"Okay. I'll help you get the cover." Reiena said as she looked at him and smiled. The two then walked through the adjoining door into Dick's room and they gathered his comforter and sheets then returned to Reiena's room.

When they got the comforter folded and laid out beside her bed, Dick grabbed his sister's stuffed tiger and handed it to her.

"Thanks." Reiena said as she hugged the tiger, and then started to climb into bed. Dick smiled at her and crawled under the top sheet of his pallet.

"Night." The twins said at the same time. Reiena looked at her brother on the floor and gave a slight smile. The two then closed their eyes and fell asleep, a slight look of happiness on their faces.

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Bruce had returned to the Batcave to finish up a lead he found on the location of Zucco. He finished up at the computer, and then looked at the time on the clock, 12:00 am. So much had happened over the past few hours; he had taken in two wards that had the rug pulled out from under them, he learned that Reiena could be a Meta, and that she was having nightmares already.

With Midnight having arrived, he decided to hit the streets and try to find Zucco. He walked over to the Batwing, climbed in and left out.

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The streets of Gotham were unusually empty. As Batman flew over each street with his searchlight hitting the ground, any and all criminals went into hiding. The Batwing was going over every inch of the city streets, but there was no sign of anyone connected to Zucco. The Batwing left the area, and went to return to the cave.

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Next Day

It was early morning, and Bruce was going to spend the day with his wards. He had gotten home about 1:30 am, went to bed and it was now 8:00 am. Bruce headed toward Dick's room and opened the door, but was surprised to see that the comforter, top sheet, and pillows were gone. He looked around the room and noticed that the adjoining door that lead to Reiena's room was ajar. He walked over to it, and slowly opened it and found the image of Dick laying on a pallet right next to Reiena's bed and she was hugging her tiger close, and she had a slight smile on her face.

Bruce walked in and up to the bed. He sat at the foot of the bed, and watched the two sleeping peacefully now. He looked around her room and saw the charred sheets thrown into the trash. Just as he looked back at the kids, he was met with one pair of bright blue eyes.

"Good morning Dick." Bruce said as he had looked down and saw Dick was awake.

"Morning Bruce." Dick replied. Just then, Reiena started to stir and then opened her eyes.

"Morning, angel." Bruce said to the second of the twins.

"Hi, Bruce, did you sleep okay." Reiena asked as she sat up in the bed.

"I did, thank you for asking, did you guys sleep okay after what happened through the night." Bruce questioned as he looked at both of them.

"Yea, after we left the kitchen, Dick said he'd stay the night with me so I didn't have any more nightmares." Reiena said as she crawled out from under the spare sheet Dick brought with him from his room.

"Well, I took today off from the office so I could spend time with you two. What do you want to do?" Bruce stated, and then asked as Dick sat next to his sister on the bed.

The two looked at each other and knew what the other was thinking.

"Can we go to the park?" Reiena asked as she looked from Dick to Bruce.

"Sure, and I know a park that has a big jungle gym." Bruce said with a smile on his face.

"Okay." The twins said as they both got to their feet and went to get ready. Bruce watched as Dick entered his room, and Reiena left out of her room to go to the bathroom.

Half an hour later, the three of them were in the kitchen while Alfred made breakfast. The butler turned around and places a plate in front of each of the twins, then turned back to the stove to finish Bruce's breakfast. The children started eating, and once they got a taste of the food, they started to almost inhale it; they thought it was so good.

Bruce watched them with a smile on his face, then Alfred brought his plate, and Bruce began to eat. The twins were through in no time, but waited for Bruce to get done. It didn't take him long before Bruce was done and by then, the two 8 year olds were about to jump though the roof with excitement.

"Alfred, I'm taking the children to that park you took me to when I was their age, I'll be driving today." Bruce said as he lifted his coffee mug and finished the beverage.

"Very good sir." Alfred stated as he began removed the breakfast dishes from the table.

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As the car arrived at the park, Dick and Reiena looked at the area, there were kids all around, and Bruce was right, there was a big jungle gym, and that had Dick about to jump out of the car. Reiena's attention was drawn to a makeshift balance beam. She may not have been an acrobat, but she did love to practice balancing, since her firebreathing act called for a good amount of balance so she wasn't get hurt. Bruce got out of the car, and the twins did the same, running to the pieces of equipment that drew their attention.

Bruce walked over to the nearby bench and saw Dick already near the top of the jungle gym, and decided to hang upside down. Reiena was on the balance beam, and was beginning to do some gymnastics. Bruce thought that maybe she had worked on them in practice at the circus for a future show.

Dick had discovered some monkey bars and went over to them, he was going from one end to the other and doing acrobatics as he released each bar. He felt like he was back in the circus, but there was a bit of a different feel, seeing how the bars were stationary. When he reached the end of the monkey bars, he swung back and forth a couple of times, then released, doing a quadruple flip before landing.

Reiena was doing back arches and all sorts of gymnastics on the balance beam. In fact, a small group of kids had gathered around to watch. They had never seen anyone with such grace and so young before. Bruce watched both kids, and grinned.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

The kids were enjoying the crowds around them, and Dick decided to really show off. He went back to the jungle gym and was working his way to the inside, then was flipping from on bar to the next. Reiena was also starting to show off. She began an entire routine that she had seen from the floor acrobats at Haley's do, and the children watching were cheering.

The twins had been at the park for an hour, and most of that time they were showing off. Bruce got an idea of another place to take them; he stood up and walked over to the crowd around Dick.

"Time to go, Dick, go get your sister." Bruce said as he got to the front of the crowd.

"Okay, Bruce." Dick said as he looked at Bruce from his upside down position, then bent his elbows, pushed off, did a simple flip, and landed. The acrobat then walked over to the other crowd to get his sister. He moved his way though the crowd around Reiena and was able to get his sister off the balance beam without a word, just a certain look on his face.

The two walked out of the crowd and over to Bruce. The three of them then went to the car and drove off.

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The car arrived in a parking lot across from a large building; the sign out front said Gotham Mall.

They all three got out of the car and the twins looked at Bruce.

"The mall has a wonderful arcade; I figured you'd want to play here for a bit." Bruce said with a smile.

The kids looked at each other and ran up to the front door of the mall. They stopped so Bruce could catch up. When their guardian was right behind them, they all went in and Bruce lead them to the arcade.

After they got their tokens for the games, the two kids went to a game that they liked. Bruce was also playing a game, it was close to Reiena. Bruce was good at the game where you try to get tokens to fall off the edge.

Reiena was at a game where you push a lever down and the wheel inside spins and wherever you land on the wheel, you get that many tickets. She was pretty good at it, hitting most of the high numbers even though she was so small. Dick was playing one of those games where you stop the lights and try to get the jackpot, and he hit the jackpot on his first turn.

Three hours passed, and the three of them had a ton of tickets, 51,213 to be exact. They went to the ticket exchange desk and the kids each got 25,500 tickets. Dick got a hand held game system and one game, Reiena got a beautiful dolphin shaped lamp and a video game, since Dick whispered to her that she could play his game system whenever she wanted to.

With the last 213, Bruce let them get some candy, only after they promised not to eat it before supper. The three left the arcade with their prizes in hand, although Bruce held onto the candy. On the ride home, Dick had opened his game system and started playing his new game while Reiena watched. The ride home was a quiet one.

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The kids ran into the manor after getting out of the car, and then ascended the stairs to go to Dick's room. Bruce came casually walking in behind them and was stopped by Alfred.

"Ah, Master Bruce, you're home. Commissioner Gordon would like to take to you; he's waiting your office." Alfred said as he saw Bruce coming into the foyer.

"Okay Alfred, thank you." Bruce said as he started up the stairs and went to his impromptu meeting.

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Bruce reached his home office and entered, closing the door behind him.

"Hello Jim, what brings you here?" Bruce said.

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The kids decided to give the new game system a rest and started exploring the manor. They were right outside the office when they heard Bruce talking to someone. They slowly and quietly opened the door just a bit so they could hear what was going on.

"Well Bruce, I'm here to tell you that you might not have to keep the Grayson twins much longer." Commissioner Gordon said as Bruce took a seat behind his desk.

"Really, how come?" Bruce asked.

"Word on the street is that Zucco maybe skipping town. Batman has him scared out of his mind according to sources." Jim said as he looked at Bruce.

"Is there any clue as to where he could be?" Bruce questioned.

"Our sources are saying he somewhere on the east side of town, but we may only have a couple of days before we lose him forever." Jim said.

"Well, thank you for informing me of this." Bruce stated as he stood up and offered his hand.

"You're welcome, Bruce. I'll be seeing you." Jim said as he shook Bruce's hand and started to walk toward the door.

The twins were still at the door, and when they saw Commissioner Gordon coming their way, the quietly pulled the door closed, and ran away to hide so they didn't get in trouble.

Commissioner Gordon came out of the office, and walked down the stairs, without seeing the twins. Bruce came out of his office, and started to head for Reiena's room. When he entered her room, the kids went running into Dick's room. They got to the bed, and were pretending to play with their new toy, and then Bruce came into the room through the adjoining door.

"Hey, there you two are. Look, something's come up and I have a late meeting at Wayne Enterprises." Bruce said as he walked over the Dick's bed where the two kids sat.

"Oh, okay." Reiena said as she looked up from playing her game on Dick's system.

"I think we'll be occupied for a while. Thanks for today, Bruce." Dick said as he looked away from Reiena's gaming skills.

"If you two need anything, Alfred will be glad to help." Bruce said as he closed the adjoining door, and left out of Dick's room thought the hall door.

When the kids made sure that Bruce was out of sight by sticking their heads out into the hall, they went back into the room and stood there.

"We can't let Zucco get out of Gotham. If that happens, our parents will never get justice." Reiena said as she looked at her brother.

"I couldn't agree more, sis. We have to go to the East side of town and find him. Then call the police with his location." Dick said he looked at the windows that lead to the balcony of his room. "You thinking what I'm thinking."

"Dick, you know I'm scared of heights." Reiena said as she did realize what her brother was thinking about doing.

"If we go out the front door, we might run into Alfred. I'll go first, then wait for you, and if anything happens, I'll catch you." Dick assured his sister. Reiena, knowing that Dick would be true to his word, agreed and the two of them went to the balcony.

Luckily there was a tree with an outstretched limb and Dick climbed onto the railing of the balcony and jumped, he grabbed the limb and then swung off a bit, and landed safely on the ground. Reiena was scared, she just couldn't stand heights, but jumping from a second story balcony was really freaking her out. She looked at Dick on the ground, and he gave a reassuring nod.

She climbed over the rail, jumped, grabbed the limb and then released it, she landed right beside her bother, who held out his arms incase she lost her balance. She landed perfectly, and the two then took off to find the man that killed their parents.


	7. Chapter 7

Alright, so here's the thing, I wanted to try and get as much detail into this as I could, but I'm not good at it with some scenes. I hope you all enjoy this. The fun is about to start with Chapter 8, but until then enjoy Chapter 7.

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><p>Chapter 7<p>

The bus arrived at a stop in East Gotham and the twins got off.

"You two sure you want to get off here." The driver asked as he was concerned for the two 8-year-olds.

"Yes sir, we're sure." Dick said as he got on the sidewalk behind his sister. The driver shrugged and pulled off after closing the bus door.

"How are we going to find him?" Reiena asked with confusion on her face. She then started looking around the area. Her brother also started looking around.

"I don't … wait, look." Dick was also confused until he found something on a power pole.

The two walked over to it; it was a wanted poster of Tony Zucco. Dick proceeded to tear the picture out so the words were nowhere to be seen.

"We'll show the picture around and see if anyone's seen him." Dick said as he held the picture and looked at Reiena.

"I hope we get something, it will be getting stormy soon." Reiena said as she looked from her brother to the sky.

"Alright, let's go." Dick said and the two set off through East Gotham.

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The two of them searched for about an hour and a half, and all of a sudden, both of them grabbed their stomachs.

"Oh man, didn't think that would hit this soon." Dick said as his and Reiena's eyes met.

"I'm sure there's a restaurant around here somewhere. I have twenty dollars on me. Bruce gave it to me at the arcade, but I never used it." Reiena said as she pulled the folded bill out of her pocket. The two then set off in search of some food.

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They came across a small diner and went in. They found a booth and waited for the waitress to bring them menus. When she arrived, she handed each of them a menu, but when she saw how young they were, questions started to go through her mind.

"Don't you two have an adult with you?" The waitress asked as the two opened their menus.

"We're ... ah… looking for our uncle, we were supposed to meet him here an hour ago, but we couldn't find the place, and we don't know how to get a hold of him." Dick said as he looked at Reiena then to the waitress.

"Well, I'm sure you'll find him." She said as she then looked at the table and saw the picture the two kids had with them. "Wait, is this your uncle? I just saw him; he left and headed east toward an old building."

"You did, do you know which building?" Reiena asked as a spark of hope showed up in her eyes.

"Not sure, but I'm sure you can find him, nothing that way but about three buildings." The waitress said. "Tell you what; anything you two want is on the house. Then you can go look for your uncle."

Okay, well, how about some soda and a burger for each of us, no veggies on mine please." Reiena as she thought that is was very nice of the waitress to help to kids like that.

Their food was to them in no time and they ate. Both of them were just eating as fast as they could, and when they were done, they left out, but Reiena had left something on the table.

The waitress came to clean off the table; and she found what the 8 year olds had left, a twenty dollar bill as a tip.

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Reiena and Dick headed off in the direction the waitress told them about, and saw the three building that were that way. They just looked at each other; it was like their 'telepathy' was going to work and the two of them split, going to the 2 outer buildings, then they would both check the middle one.

The buildings were all multi stories, but they were also partly demolished, so the bottom floor was the only one that was still there. Reiena was looking in all the boarded up window to see if she could find anything, but her building was empty, so she went to the middle one to wait for her brother. When Dick arrived at the last building the two of them looked in each window together.

They noticed one window around the back of the building was lit up. They went over to it, and looked in. There in the room was the man that ruined their lives. Zucco was frantically packing a suitcase. Dick looked at Reiena, and she looked back, and nodded. The two of them started looking around and Reiena spotted a phone. She pointed it out to Dick and he ran over to it.

Reiena was right behind him, but she didn't see the tin can until she stepped on it. She looked back over her shoulder to make sure there was no movement, then she started toward her brother.

Dick had reached the phone and was about to dial 911 when all of a sudden he heard his sister let out a yelp. The young acrobat turned around and was scared by the scene. Reiena was held to Zucco's chest and the mobster was holding a gun to her head.

"Well well, if it isn't the circus kids. You two are the reason I'm being hunted by The Bat. Come on, boy, or your sister here gets it." Zucco said as he looked at Dick's blue eyes. Dick was scared, and went with Zucco, seeing as he didn't want to lose his last family member to the mobster.

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Two Hours Earlier **(1)**

Bruce headed toward Dick room, figuring that the twins were still playing with their new game system. He knocked on the door, but there was no answer. He slowly opened the door, but when he was able to see inside the room, the children were gone. Bruce closed the door, and went to find Alfred. Just as Bruce started down the stairs, he saw the person he was looking for.

"Alfred, have you seen Dick and Reiena?" Bruce asked with slight concern in his voice.

"I'm sorry, Master Bruce, I haven't seen them since you arrived home." Alfred answered.

"I'm going out. I just hope they didn't do what I think they did." Bruce said as he finished descending the stairs and headed toward the study. He activated the hidden mechanism and the old grandfather clock moved to the side. Bruce headed down the staircase that was behind the clock, and once he was fully gone, the clock moved back into place.

1 hour later

Batman was over the east side of Gotham in the Batwing, and had his search light on and it was sweeping all over the streets. If there were any criminals or gangsters, they ran for cover, because news of Batman being in a worse mood than usual had spread. There was nothing that he could find, so he went onto the next area.

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><p><strong>(1) Wanted to show what happened with BruceBatman during the time the twins were gone.**


	8. Chapter 8

Okay, sorry for not getting this chapter posted sooner, alot going on for me, my Bday's on August 20th, and I've been doing stuff with my mom. I can tell you that there will be 2 more chapters after this one. If I can get that to work out.

That's another thing, had some writers block and got an idea for a new story, that's what kinda delayed this.

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><p>Chapter 8<p>

Present time

Dick was lead into the room where he and Reiena had spied on Zucco just a couple of minutes ago. Zucco was right behind him, still holding Reiena against his chest. Once they were all three in the room, Zucco shoved Reiena over beside Dick, and shut the door.

"Alright, now I'm going to make sure you two don't go running to the cops." Zucco said as he kept his gun on the twins, and walked over to the small table in the room. He then pulled a chair out from under the table and walked over between the kids and placed the chair.

Zucco then grabbed Reiena by her shirt collar and slung her into the chair, and pulled out some rope from under his bed. Zucco walked over and pulled her arms behind her, he tied each to the back of the chair, and her ankles to the legs. As he stood up, he grabbed a piece of cloth and covered her mouth so she couldn't yell.

The mobster then went over and grabbed another chair and placed it on Dick's right side. He held the gun at Dick and motioned for him to get in the chair. Zucco then tied Dick to the chair the same way he had Reiena, and also gagged him. As the mobster walked away, the kids started to struggle to get free.

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Batman was going back over East Gotham, and beginning to get worried.

"I hope those two didn't go looking for Zucco." Batman said to himself. Just then, the Batwing's sensors picked up movement in an old, partially demolished building not far from the all night diner. The dark knight put the Batwing on hover and left out to inspect the building.

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Tony Zucco was working on something at the table while his young captives were still trying to get free. After a minute, he was done, and turned around holding something.

The kids' eyes widened as they saw what the mobster was holding; a crudely made bomb. Both children started to try and object, but they couldn't because of the fabric over their mouths. Zucco then set the timer for five minutes. He then placed the device about five feet away from Dick and Reiena.

"The five minutes will give me plenty of time to get away. See you two later, hahahahaha." Zucco said as he started to leave the room.

Just then, a bat-a-rang flew past Zucco's head and embedded itself in the door frame. The mobster turned around and had his gun ready to shoot The Bat when he came in, but another bat-a-rang came flying and knocked the gun off its mark and Zucco pulled the trigger. Zucco then ran out of the room after dropping the gun.

Dick let out a muffled cry of pain. Batman then busted through the remainder of the window and was about to go after Zucco when he saw blood pouring slowly out of the wound on the boy's arm. The Dark Knight, instead of going after the mobster, ran over to the children, and ungaged the injured boy. He then used the fabric to tie a make shift bandage around the bullet wound.

"You have to go after him; he's the one that killed our parents." Dick said as Batman started cutting the rope that held the boy to the chair.

"I have to save you and your sister." Batman said as he finally cut through the last restraint on the boy.

"How did you know she was my sister?" Dick asked as he slid out of the chair, and grabbed his wounded arm. Batman started to free Reiena, starting with the gag.

"You're twins, I could tell right away." Batman said as he freed both of Reiena's wrists.

"Alright, we'll give you that one, but we would have been fine until you caught him." Reiena stated.

"You would have been dead by the time I got back. You didn't notice how long he set the timer for; we have about a minute left to get out of here, maybe less." Batman said as he freed Reiena's left leg, thus freeing her completely.

"We'll never get out in time." Dick said; but Batman didn't respond and grabbed both kids and started toward the window he entered through. Just as he was about to reach a spot where he could get the kids out, the bomb blew. Batman sat Reiena and Dick on their feet, pulled them close with one arm, and used the other arm to pull his cape around them. In the dark knight's mind, he knew he wouldn't come out of this unscathed, but at least the kids would be okay if the worst thing happened.

Just as Batman braced for the impact of the blast, Reiena held out her left hand, and the explosion completely went around them as if the fire and everything in the explosion was being redirected.

Batman looked at the 8 year old, and his suspicions from last night were verified. Reiena was in fact a Meta, and she was able to hold off the fire. Dick was watching his sister in amazement; she was right when she told him about what she felt last night. Batman had lightened his grip on the kids and slowly stood up. Reiena started to look like she was about to pass out. Dick saw this in her eyes and held onto her.

Just as they saw the explosion was over, the 8 year old collapsed. Dick caught her before she hit the ground and Batman grabbed her from him, cradling the girl in his arms.

"Grab onto my belt and hold tight. I'll get you and your sister out of her." Batman said as he looked at Dick, and the boy listed to the vigilante.

Batman started to run, following an unusual path, thanks to Reiena's new ability, and they made it out just seconds before the building collapsed. Dick let go of Batman's belt and walked around to see his twin was still asleep in Batman's arms. The Dark Knight then turned to see the Batwing arrive.

"Where are we going?" Dick asked as the cockpit's cover opened.

"Home. You get in, then I'll hand you your sister." Batman stated, and Dick climbed in and sat in the back. Batman then placed Reiena in the young acrobat's lap. The vigilante then got in the pilot's seat and the Batwing took off after the cover closed.

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Twenty minutes later, the batwing arrived inside a cave. As the plane came to rest on a helipad, Reiena started to come to. She opened her blue eyes and looked right at her brother.

"Hey sis, thanks for the save back there." Dick said as Reiena sat up.

Batman helped Reiena out of the Batwing, and Dick was right behind her. The twins looked around the cave in awe.

"Why did you bring us here?" Dick questioned as he and his sister turned to face The Dark Knight.

"I want to know exactly how much you two want Zucco." Batman asked as he got closer to the children.

"Who are you?" Reiena questioned with curiosity in her voice.

Batman stared at them for a moment, then lifted his right hand up and pulled his cowl back. Both children were surprised when they saw Bruce's face was the one under the cowl.

"I take it the children will be staying indefinitely." Alfred said as he suddenly appeared.

Dick and Reiena started at each other, then looked at the two men and just smiled.


	9. Chapter 9

Sorry this chapter is kinda late, I wanted to try and get started on the next one, but I've hit a writer's block here. I am however working on a new story, but I need your help, there is a poll up on my profile that I'd like you to participate in. All the details are in the question that I want to give out about the story.

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><p>Chapter 9<p>

Later That Night

Bruce, Dick, and Reiena were sitting in the study about to talk about what the twins had just learned.

"Why didn't you tell us?" Dick asked

"I wanted to keep you two safe, that's also why I haven't been around much. I want Zucco to be brought to justice, so your childhoods wouldn't be filled with revenge, like mine was." Bruce explained to his wards.

"We heard what Commissioner Gordon said. That when we decided to try and find him." Reiena stated.

"How did he catch you?" Bruce asked curiously.

"Dick had run to a payphone to call the police, and I was right behind him, but I stepped on a can and he must have heard the sound when the can got crushed." Reiena answered.

"Okay; well, I need to ask you something, Reiena. Do you understand what happened when the bomb went off?" Bruce questioned as he and Dick looked at the girl.

"All I really know is that something came over me just as the bomb blew, and I was able to protect all three of us. I don't even fully get what I did." Reiena explained.

"It was amazing, sis. So do you think it has anything with what happened to your bed sheets last night?" Dick asked after he took in what his sister said.

"I have to admit, after hearing about last night, I've suspected something like this would happen. Reiena, Dick; you two know of Aquaman and Superman right?" Bruce stated then asked. They both nodded and looked at Bruce with wide eyes. "Well, Aquaman has two powers that help him; he can control water and communicate with fish. Superman has several different kinds of vision plus other powers. They are called Metas because they are super powered, and you also seem to be a Meta, Reiena. I can help you train so you can control your powers, at least self control so they don't backfire or get out of hand, and I want to train both of you so you can assist me when I'm Batman." Bruce explained.

Dick and Reiena looked right into each others eyes, as if they were talking to each other without using words. A moment later, they looked at Bruce and nodded. This made Bruce smile slightly, which made the twins smile big.

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Zucco ran to his uncle's house, and felt that he was safe. Zucco's uncle is a known crime boss in Gotham, by the name of Arnold Stromwell.

"Hey, Uncle Arnie, looks like the bat won't be a problem anymore; I blew him up." Zucco said as he walked into Stromwell's study.

"Don't underestimate him Tony, but maybe this time you did something right. Just don't screw up in the future; I don't need the police down my neck because of something you did." Stromwell said to his nephew; the mob boss then left the room.

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Bruce walked the twins upstairs so they could get some rest, seeing how they had a busy day. They arrived at Dick's room and all three went in. The young acrobat quickly changed and crawled into bed.

Reiena walked up to her brother and gave him a quick hug, then headed through the adjoining door of their rooms.

"Dick, I want you to know that once your training starts, it will be hard." Bruce said as he pulled the covers up over the boy.

"Okay Bruce, thanks for letting me know." Dick said as he let out a small yawn. The little acrobat then fell asleep, making sure not to lie on his injured arm.

Bruce walked out of Dick's room, and closed the door behind him. The billionaire then headed down the hall to tuck Reiena in, but paused before opening the door and knocked.

"Come in." Reiena's tiny voice said then Bruce opened the door and walked in.

Reiena was in her pajamas and sitting on the edge of her bed. Her head was hung downward and her eyes were on her feet that were dangling off the edge of the bed.

"Something wrong, Reiena." Bruce questioned as he recognized that look on the girl's face.

"Just thinking about something. Me and Dick have heard about Batman, and how he looks like he's flying, but that it's just him using wires. Well, I'm scared of heights." Reiena said as she looked from her feet to Bruce

"That's why you didn't join Dick and your parents. Well, I'm sure with some specialized training, you can get over that. Growing up, I was always afraid that I was disgracing my family name, but after time, I remembered that my parents loved me, and would have never been ashamed of me." Bruce explained to Reiena.

Reiena took all this in; she couldn't believe that Bruce told her that.

"Maybe I can get over it, like you said it would take some work, but I can get over it." Reiena said as she looked at Bruce after thinking about everything.

"Alright, get some sleep now. I'll see you and Dick in the morning." Bruce said as he saw Reiena start to get under her cover. Once she was comfortable, Bruce tucked her in and then left the room.

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The next day, Bruce didn't have to go do anything at Wayne Enterprises, so he decided to see what the kids could do fighting wise. When he arrived downstairs for breakfast, the twins were already at the counter watching Alfred cook omelets, which is what the kids requested.

Reiena had asked for ham and cheese; a lot of ham and two slices of American Cheese to be precise. Dick wanted ham and cheese as well, but with chopped onion added. Alfred had just finished Reiena's and put it on the plate in front of her.

"Good morning everyone." Bruce said cheerfully as he sat across from the twins. Alfred brought a cup of coffee and daily paper and placed them beside the billionaire.

"Morning, Bruce." Dick said as he looked at the man that had saved him and Reiena the night before.

"I was thinking about taking you two to the cave and seeing what you can do." Bruce said after taking a sip of his coffee.

"Okay, I'm ready when breakfast is done." Reiena said after she swallowed the bite of omelet she had in her mouth. Just then, Alfred brought Dick his omelet, and the acrobat dug into it.

"It will take some time to get you ready, but I'm sure you two are determined enough." Bruce said as he didn't look away from his paper.

"Master Bruce, don't you think you could be getting a little ahead of yourself." Alfred stated as he looked over his shoulder while he was fixing Bruce's usual morning meal.

"We can handle anything, Alfred." Reiena said as she pushed her now empty plate away from her. "Thank you, Alfred."

"Just know this, Miss Reiena, the nights are long, and there can be many dangers out there." Alfred stated to the young fire artist as he grabbed her plate and returned to the stove.

"Alfred, if we can handle being in the air with no net, or being surrounded by fire, I'm sure we can handle whatever Bruce can throw at us." Dick said as he swallowed a bite.

"Why don't you two go play while I have my breakfast, then after I'm done, we will begin." Bruce said as Alfred brought his plate. With that, the kids left the counter and headed for Dick's room.

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><p>Alright, I have a bit of a challenge for you. Can you tell me what parts are from Batman the animated series and what are from The Batman. First person to get me the right answer, will get a wonderful shoutout in the next chapter of this, and you can make a decision for a scene in this story. Details on that will go to the winner in a PM. The Challenge is for the whole story, not just this chapter.<p> 


	10. Chapter 10

Looks like I have 2 chapters left. I wanted to have one chapter dedicated to their training.

URGENT: Please check out the Author's Note at the bottom of this chapter.

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><p>Chapter 10<p>

Thirty Minutes Later

Bruce had finished his breakfast and was about to ascend the stairs when he heard a loud crash coming from the indoor gym, so he went running to see what caused the crash. When the billionaire arrived, he saw Reiena leaning up against the small weights set and five of those weights were on the floor around her.

"What happened!" Bruce asked as he walked over to Reiena and helped her up.

"We thought we'd get a head start. Dick caught me off guard with one of his flips and kicked me. I lost my balance and fell into the weights." Reiena said as Bruce released her once she was stable on her feet.

"Are you okay?" Bruce questioned.

"Yea, I'm use to it. When I started my fire breather training, then fire dance; I'd get burned at first. The pain from hitting those weights is nothing compared to multiple burns." Reiena explained.

"Sorry sis." Dick said as he walked over to her.

"Alright, let's start this properly. Yesterday, I saw some of what you can do while we were at the park. Now, I want you to show me your best." Bruce said looked at the twins. "Dick, you want to go first.

Dick nodded and walked over to the hanging rings. Once he had jumped and gotten a hold of them, he started doing flips while holding on, then launched himself upward while flipping. He then ended with a huge launch off the rings and did a quadruple flip and landed perfectly.

Reiena had watched the whole time; however she was a bit tense, even though he wasn't as high at the trapeze that Dick practically lived on.

"Show off." Reiena joked.

"Hey, he did say to show our **best**." Dick said as he walked over to her.

"Yea, but that quad is just going too far." Reiena said.

"Okay, Reiena, you're next, I'm sure you have more gymnastics than what I saw yesterday." Bruce said as he looked her right in the eyes.

"I just hope I remember all the timing of the moves." Reiena said as she swallowed then took a deep breath.

"She walked over to the floor mats, and began by standing on one corner of the area and then took off running; she then did a front hand spring, and turned into two back handsprings. Once she landed, she did a tuck and roll, then once her hands were on the mat, she pushed off and did a twist in the air. She landed on her feet, and her breathing became slightly heavier.

"You alright?" Dick asked as he noticed.

"Yea, I guess I hit those weights harder than I thought, I'm fine though." Reiena said, but she saw the look Bruce had on his face.

"Okay, I'd say I've seen enough, I'll plan out separate training regimens for each of you. Reiena, I may have a friend that can help you to use your powers. He can control water, but he will teach you how to use your powers when necessary." Bruce said. "You two go do some shopping with Alfred."

"Okay." The two said as they left out to get ready for a day of shopping.

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1 hour later

The kids left out with Alfred and Bruce headed to his study to make a phone call.

"I'd like to speak to Commissioner Gordon, please." Bruce said after he dialed a number. The billionaire waited for a moment until a familiar voice came back over speaker phone.

"Commissioner Gordon." The voice said.

"Hi Jim, its Bruce Wayne. I was wondering if there was any way I could adopt the Grayson twins." Bruce asked.

"I don't see any problem with that. We spoke to the people at the circus, the want to take them in, but figure they needed a more stable home now." Gordon said.

"Well then, I'll talk to them tonight; thanks Jim. I'll talk to you later." Bruce said as e turned off the speaker phone, thus ending the call.

Bruce left out of his study and walked through the manor to the garage and got into his Porsche and drove away.

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Three Hours Later

Alfred and the twins arrived home and the kids helped Alfred carry in the bags, and headed to the kitchen with the groceries.

"Maser Bruce?" Alfred called into the manor. Just as the butler was about to call out again, Dick returned with a piece of paper in his hands. Alfred took the paper and read it.

_Dear Alfred, Dick, and Reiena,_

_ After you left, I was called into the office for a while._

_Dick and Reiena can do whatever they want till I _

_get back, just stay safe. Alfred, you know what to do._

_ Bruce_

"Well then, I suppose you two can just spend the day doing what you'd like, but please be back down here once Master Bruce comes home." Alfred said, and with those words, the twins looked at each other, and then went to finish exploring the manor, as they had only seen about one-forth of it in the two days they'd been there.

They walked around, looking at all the paintings and antiques, but Reiena wasn't really interested.

"Something wrong, sis." Dick asked as he looked at her face.

"Just hope Bruce doesn't get too intense on me. He said he would help me get over my fear of heights, but I don't know." Reiena said as she hung her head, and stopped walking.

"Bruce is kind, I'm sure he won't do anything that you're not ready for." Dick reassured his sister.

"Alright, thanks for that." Reiena said as she looked at her brother with a more cheerful face now, and ran off. "Catch me if you can, haha."

Dick just gave a light sigh and ran after her.

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One hour later

Bruce returned home from wherever he had been.

"Alfred, Dick, Reiena; where are you?" Bruce called out. Immediately, Alfred appeared in the kitchen door.

"Well, Master Bruce, welcome home, I've just started supper; it will take some time." Alfred greeted, then explained.

"Thank you, Alfred; do you know where the kids are?" Bruce questioned as he looked around.

"I'm not entirely sure sir. Shall I help look for them." Alfred said, some concern in his voice.

"No, that's alright, I'll find them." Bruce said as he started to walk through the main part of the manor.

All of a sudden, Bruce heard something that sounded like a stampede on the second floor. He raced up the stairs and found what he was looking for, the twins. They were running in and out of the rooms upstairs.

"Dick, Reiena; what in the world is going on." Bruce shouted, and at the sound of his stern voice, the twins quit running and came out of the room they ran into.

"When we got home with Alfred, we found the note, and Alfred told us that the note said we could do whatever we wanted till you got back, so we decided to play tag in the house, we were careful and didn't break anything." Dick explained.

"Well, I'm happy that you two were able to entertain yourselves, but I want to talk to you about something serious; let's go to the study." Bruce said as he got a smirk on his face then turned and headed toward the study, with the twins close behind him.

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Bruce sat down on the couch in front of the fireplace, and the twins sat on the floor with their legs crossed.

"I wanted to ask, would you consider me officially adopting you two?" Bruce asked.

Dick and Reiena looked at each other with a surprised face, then back at Bruce with the same face.

"We miss mom and dad, but I think they'd like you. You took us in to protect us from that gangster, and you are still protecting us. This is just me, but I think they would want us taken in permanently by someone like you." Reiena stated, then after saying that, she looked at Dick, and he nodded in agreement.

"I'm glad to hear that. You see, I was at my attorney's office getting adoption papers drawn up, but before I signed them, I wanted to ask you guys if you wanted me to adopt you." Bruce said as he reached into his inside left hand pocket and pulled out a set of folded papers.

"Can we keep our last name?" Dick asked.

"Yes, I figured you would want to, so you will still be Dick and Reiena Grayson, but you will be my adopted son and daughter. You don't have to call me dad or anything like that." Bruce answered as he walked over to his desk and grabbed a pen. He then lay the paper on the desk, and the kids watched as Bruce signed his name to their future.

As the billionaire looked up from signing, he was met with two pairs of arms wanted to hug him. He bent down and the twins walked up and wrapped their arms around his neck, he returned the hug.

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><p>Alright, First thing: Congratulations to KKCooper, she answered my last question, she was able to tell me chapter by chapter what scenes I used from Batman the animated Series. Way to good KK, you are a true Batman fan in my eyes.<p>

Okay, another question: Who is the friend that Bruce can call to help Reiena with the fire ability (does not have a fire ability of their own)?


	11. Chapter 11

Just one chapter left after this on. Also, thanks to KKCooper for the martial arts help, she gave me some insight to Taekwondo, and I'm glad, it's really going to help in future chapters and other stories.

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><p>Chapter 11<p>

Two Weeks Later

Bruce had spent the last few days working out training regimens for the kids. Today was when Bruce would start training them.

"Dick, Reiena, can you meet me in the cave in 20 minutes." Bruce hollered down the hall to the kids' rooms.

Both kids popped their heads out of Dick's room door and nodded. Bruce then walked down the stairs and headed for the study. When he arrived he went straight for the clock. He descended the stairs after the clock moved aside, and once in the cave, he walked over to the bat computer. Bruce started typing and after a moment, a blonde haired man appeared on the screen.

"Aquaman here, what seems to be the trouble, Batman?" Aquaman stated.

"I have a couple of children that I'm going to train to be my protégés, but one has a meta power, I was wondering if there was anyone in Atlantis that you know of that can help her to train and control her power." Bruce explained.

"She has the power over water?" Aquaman questioned.

"No, her power is over fire, but I feel that you are the only person I can turn to who would know of someone about her age that can help her, an eight year old or even a little older." Bruce answered.

"I believe my wife has a student at the conservatory of sorcery that is very talented, and his water control is very good. I shall bring him to you, when you are ready." Aquaman replied.

"Would now be alright, I'm about to start the training, but I want the girl to start with her fire power training right away." Bruce stated.

"That is fine, I shall go and get Kaldur'ahm and we will arrive in the Batcave via zeta beam when we are ready." Aquaman said.

"Thank you, Orin." Bruce said and with that the screen turned off. Just as the screen turned off, the twins arrived and walked right up to Bruce.

"Who's Orin?" Dick questioned.

"That's what I call Aquaman when we are not on missions. He's bringing someone to help Reiena with her powers." Bruce said. "Until they get here, I'm going to start you into some simple sparring."

Dick and Reiena nodded, and Bruce headed over to put on his uniform, and when he came back, he had 2 small masks in his hand. As he handed them to the kids, they had confused looks on their faces.

"Orin know who I am, but his young friend, Kaldur'ahm does not. Secret identities are to keep you safe, don't tell anyone who you are unless I tell you. Aquaman knows not to call me Bruce in front of anyone that doesn't know, so he will call me Batman in front of Kaldur'ahm." Bruce explained, and with that explanation, the kids put the masks on.

Batman then walked over to an area of the cave that had mats down, and the kids were right behind him.

"I've seen what you can do in your comfortable fields, but I want to see how you can use that to dodge attacks." Batman said, and Dick walked up first.

The two got into fighting stances and Batman went after Dick with a switch kick, but Dick saw it coming and jumped out of the way. Just as Dick landed, Batman came at the acrobat with a mid-section punch, which Dick blocked at the mid-section. Batman somewhat smirked at the acrobat. Batman then did a snap kick that caught Dick off guard and he was unable to block. Dick took the hit full on and went down.

Batman decided to stop and go check on his ward. Reiena came running in also, and just as they got there, Dick was standing up.

"Are you okay?" Reiena asked as she looked at Dick.

"Yea, sis, just got caught off guard." Dick said as he stood straight.

"I think you'd better rest, I didn't put must power behind that kick, but it was still harsh." Batman said.

YJYJYJYJ

Meanwhile in Atlantis, King Orin goes to look for his wife, Mera, to ask where he might find Kaldur'ahm. Orin found his lovely wife; she was teaching a class of three students. One of them was a dark skinned boy with blondish hair and silver eyes, the other boy had a light skin, and dark hair. The other student was a young girl with red hair.

"My love, what brings you here?" Mera asked as she was confused as to why her husband was there.

"I was wondering how Kaldur'ahm was doing in his studies." Orin answered

"He is doing very well, his control over water is coming along, and he is farther than Garth and Tula in that area." Mera stated. "Why do you ask?"

"Batman is taking on two children as his protégés, and one has a Meta power. He has asked if I knew anyone around the children's age that can help her. My first thought turned to Kaldur'ahm." Orin replied.

"Very well, Kaldur'ahm, please come here." Mera called out to her student. Kaldur'ahm swam over to his queen/teacher.

"Yes, my queen." Kaldur'ahm, the blonde student, said as he showed his respect by placing his right fist to his forehead.

"King Orin needs your help; his friend Batman has requested someone that is very skilled in controlling water. Batman has taken on two protégés and one has the power over fire, but Batman could only think of my husband as someone that may be able to help, would you like to help this girl?" Mera explained to the 10 year old Atlantean.

"Yes, I would be happy to accept this task from the king." Kaldur'ahm said, not having to even think about it.

"We shall leave right now, Batman is training them, and wants to get the girl started in her special training as soon as possible." Orin said, and started to swim off, Kaldur'ahm was right behind his king and the two headed toward the Atlantean based Zeta Beam Transporter.

YJYJYJYJ

"Guess that means I'm up." Reiena stated and she stepped into the sparring area.

Batman arrived, and Dick stayed on the sidelines to watch. The Dark Knight got into his stance, and immediately went with a flying snap kick, but Reiena was able to block it by crossing her wrists and holding them out to block. When Batman's foot made contact with Reiena's arms, the young girl put all her strength into pushing the Dark Knight back. Just as Batman landed, the Zeta Beam Transporter started to activate.

"Okay, so before they arrive, what will you call yourselves?" Batman asked.

"Mom use to call me her little Robin." Dick stated.

"I was always called red bird, but I like Cardinal better." Reiena said.

"Alright, whenever Kaldur'ahm is here, you will call each other those names." Batman said, and just as he finished talked, the transporter went really bright.

"Recognized Aquaman 06 with one guest"

Aquaman and his young friend arrived, and were greeted by the Dark Knight and two small children.

"Welcome, Aquaman, and this must be Kaldur'ahm." Batman said as he walked up to his fellow superhero.

"Thank you Batman, and these must be the children you told me about." Aquaman said as he looked from Batman to the two raven haired children a little ways behind him.

"Yes, the boy is Robin, and the girl is Cardinal." Batman said as he turned from the two Atlanteans and motioned for the twins to come forward.

"Hello." The twins said at the same time.

"So, you two are Batman's protégés, I am glad to meet you. My name is Aquaman, and this is Kaldur'ahm. He is here to help Cardinal to gain control over her fire power." Aquaman said as he introduced himself and his young friend.

"Okay, well it's nice to meet you Aquaman; you too Kaldur'ahm." Cardinal said as she stepped forward, and offered her hand.

"Please, Cardinal, call me Kaldur." The young Atlantean said as he stepped forward and took her hand.

"You two go ahead and start. Kaldur, right now her powers activate when she's in trouble, I'd like you to start by attacking with your sorcery powers, let's see if she can do more than move fire." Batman explained to the young Atlantean.

"Yes, sir; Cardinal, where shall we train?" Kaldur asked.

"There's a big area where there's nothing but bats, and I'm sure we won't bother them." Cardinal said as she started to walk toward the area she was talking about. Kaldur followed her.

"Thank you, Orin. I think Kaldur will be a good teacher." Batman said as he walked right up to the Atlantean king and shook his hand.

"Just contact me when they are through for the day, and I shall return to take him home." Orin said as he turned to leave for Atlantis. "It was nice to meet you, Robin."

With that, Aquaman walked into the transporter and typed in his destination.

"Recognized Aquaman 06"

"While Cardinal trains with Kaldur, I shall start you into some basic martial arts." Batman said as he turned from the Zeta Beam Transporter and looked at Robin.

"Okay." Robin said as he and Batman headed back over to the training mats, and Batman got into a basic stance, then Robin got into the same stance.

YJYJYJYJ

Cardinal and Kaldur arrived at the spot the young girl had mentioned, and Kaldur followed Batman's instructions and started to power up a spell and sent it right at Cardinal. The spell went out and all over so Cardinal couldn't dodge it. The young girl then held out her hands, and all of a sudden, a wall of fire surrounded her.

"Very impressive, Cardinal. Batman says that right now your powers are only defensive, but that is why he has asked for my help. I can teach you to actually use your powers when you need to attack, as I just did with my sorcery." Kaldur said.

Cardinal was impressed with the ten-year-old, she could tell that he was wise for his age. She knew he was the right person to help her gain total control over her powers, even though his was over water and sorcery, and hers was over fire.

YJYJYJYJ

2 hours later

Cardinal and Kaldur had made some amazing progress with the young girl's training went exceptionally well. Just at the end of the session, she was able to create fireballs and send them toward Kaldur. The two of them decided that was enough for the day and headed over to the training area where Batman and Robin were.

When they arrived, Robin was getting the hang of the basic martial arts that Batman was teaching him, and Batman had begun a small sparring session to see how the young boy could use what he had just learned in combat. Robin was doing well, and with every flying kick, he added his own acrobatic flair to it. Just as Batman blocked the last kick, he spotted the two kids out of the corner of his eye.

"Okay, Robin, that's enough for today. Kaldur, how did Cardinal do?" Batman said as he let his cape fall over his shoulders, covering his arms completely.

"She was wonderful; just as we finished with her session, she was able to create small fireballs." Kaldur explained to Cardinal's new mentor.

"That's good, can you come back once a week and help her more?" Batman questioned.

"Yes, I would like to get to know both Robin and Cardinal, and I think Cardinal can make some excellent progress with each session." Kaldur said as he looked from Batman to Cardinal then to Robin.

Just then, the Zeta Beam transporter activated and announced the arrival of a League member

"Recognized Aquaman 06"

"Greetings, My King." Kaldur said as he saluted Aquaman.

"Well, Kaldur, you seem to be in good spirits, how did it go?" Aquaman questioned.

"I shall tell you on the way home, sire." Kaldur stated.

"Very well, it's time to go." Aquaman said and with that, the two Atlanteans walked toward the Zeta Beams.

"Bye, Kaldur, can't wait for next week." Cardinal said after the two.

"See you around, Kaldur." Robin said as he started to wave goodbye.

* * *

><p>I sure that Robin didn't meet Kaldur at such an early age, but I couldn't think of anyone else I could use. I may also be off on the age, I'm just going with my gut, but this was a good chapter, sorry I took so long in updating. I'm going to go ahead and finish this story before I work on my Batman Beyond story.<p> 


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

One Year Later

Each of the twins has come very far in their training. Both of them were very skilled in martial arts, and thanks to Kaldur's weekly sessions, Cardinal was able to create fireballs, and even weapons from fire. Robin was trained to use a compact computer that was put into his left glove; it had GPS, and a fingerprint scanner. Tonight was a special night for the kids, their first night on patrol. Over the past year, Alfred has been working on the children's costumes.

Robin's was a red tunic with small yellow closure like strips going down the front and on the left side of the chest area, there was a black filled circle with a yellow R on it. His tights were black and part of his tunic showed on the side of the pants. His gloves were black and so was the outside of his cape. The inside of the cape was yellow, along with his utility belt. He had a black domino, and black boots.

Cardinal's was similar in design, but the colors were different. Her tunic was orange with red-orange circle buttons going down, and on the left chest area was also a black filled circle, but with a yellow C instead of an R. Her tunic went down a bit on the sides of her tights, which were yellow. Her gloves and boots were red, and her cape was a slate gray on the outside and black on the inside. Her utility belt was the same color as the buttons on her tunic, red-orange. She also had a black domino mask.

The Dark Knight figured that the twins were ready to actually help out. The three of them were on lookout on the roof of one of the older buildings. Batman knew this was one of the bad areas, but thought to himself that he would be there to help incase something happened to either of them. Just as he finished that thought, he heard a burglar alarm going off not from away.

"Alright; Robin, Cardinal, it's time to get to work." Batman said has he stood up and pulled out a grappling hook and launched it. Robin followed quickly, but Cardinal was slightly hesitant. Robin looked at her and gave a reassuring nod, and the three of them swung off toward the building.

YJYJYJYJ

The building was a jewelry store, but the crooks weren't your run of the mill crooks, it was a group of six extortionists. They were working for Tony Zucco, and bullying an elderly couple for protection money.

"Come on, you know its $10,000 this week, you're short." One of the extortionists said.

"That's all we have for you this week. We didn't do much business." The male owner responded.

"It doesn't matter; we know you have to have made more than five grand." The head guy said as he started putting his hand into his jacket. He removed his hand and it was wrapped around a gun.

The gangster aimed the gun at the couple, but just before he pulled the trigger, the gun was knocked out of his hand and attached to the wall, when the group of extortionists saw what was holding the gun there, they began to panic. The gun was stuck to the wall with a bat-a-rang. The gangsters all start drawing their guns, and looking around. All of a sudden, the elderly couple fell, or for a better term pulled. When they realized what happened, they were face to face with two young children that looked like they were dressed for Halloween.

"What are you two doing, these are dangerous men." The lady asked.

"It's alright, we were trained by Batman, we may be young, but we're good." Cardinal said.

"You could get hurt." The man said.

"It's alright, my sister has special powers. She can protect herself and me if needed." Robin said.

While the two children were making sure the couple was safe; Batman was dodging bullets and fighting the gangsters. The Dark Knight had easily taken down one guy, but was having trouble with the last five, as they were coming at him. All of a sudden, one of the gangsters fired his gun, emptying the clip as fast as he could, and Batman dodged all the bullets, yet one bullet hit the fuse box, and sparks were coming out all over, catching all close pieces of wood and fabric on fire. Batman continued to fight the gangsters, but the fire was closing in on the twins and the couple.

Cardinal got on the side of them that was closest to the fire, and held her hands up. As she concentrated on the fire, she was able to move some and create a shield around her, her brother, and the couple. The fire never penetrated the shield, and Cardinal was doing her best to keep her mind on protecting the people inside her shield.

Just as Batman took out two more men, the roof was starting to collapse.

"Cardinal, Robin; get them out of here, I'll be right behind you." Batman said as he blocked another punch.

Robin was about to protest, but then he remembered one of Batman's rules, 'when I tell you to do something, don't argue, just do it'. Cardinal didn't hesitate and started to stand up, the shield rising in height as she did.

"Please stand up; I can protect us enough to get out." Cardinal stated as she slightly looked over her shoulder. The couple began to argue, but Robin quietly said it was the right thing to do. The four of them then moved as fast as they could, while staying within the shield.

Just as they got out, and clear of the main area, the building collapsed. Cardinal pulled her hands down, and the fire shield disappeared. Cardinal and Robin ran toward the building, but they were stopped by a tug on their capes.

"We can't allow you to go back in there." The man said as he pulled back on both capes.

"Batman's still in there, and I can move the fire, you saw me." Cardinal said as she turned to grab her cape, and robin followed her action. The man released both of their capes and the two protégés took off toward the collapsed building.

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Batman's Part of the Fight

The six gangsters started gathering around the Dark Knight. Batman quickly glanced over to where the elderly couple was, and saw them go down. He knew that the twins had pulled them down out of harms way. One gangster started to punch at the vigilante, only to be stopped as Batman moved the punch aside and threw a punch himself, right into the guy's gut, knocking him out.

Another sole gangster pulled a gun and started firing it as fast as he could. Batman was dodging all the bullets, but one hit the fuse box, and sparks flew out from the box, catching wood and fabric on fire. The Dark Knight was not worried, as he had full confidence that Cardinal's powers could protect herself, her brother, and the couple that owned the shop.

As he figured, Cardinal quickly put up a fire shield once she saw the fire getting closer. Batman turned his attention back to the gangsters and once their guns were empty, they tossed them aside and started street fighting. The vigilante was blocking the punches and kicks, and then started to hear the roof start to give way.

"Cardinal, Robin; get them out of here. I'm right behind you." He shouted toward the two young heroes and he saw them starting to leave.

The gangsters were still fighting, and Batman was able to knock out two more out. What the Dark Knight didn't know was that there was one more person that he had to deal with, the leader of the group himself, Tony Zucco. Zucco came out from a hiding spot and slowly crept up behind Batman. Just as the Dark Knight took out one more gangster, Zucco started to lift a small but heavy statue over his head, and just as Batman turned around, he lowered the item right into the vigilante's face.

Batman took the hit at full force, being caught off guard by the appearance of the mob boss. The blow from the statue knocked Batman to the ground. Just before he lost consciousness, he saw Zucco bend down and give a grin.

"Time to finish what I thought I did last year." Zucco stated, and with that, Batman fell unconscious. "You two, get him and let's head to a special place to finish this."

"What about our guys, boss." One of the two remaining henchmen stated.

"They'll get what's coming for being taken down." Zucco answered.

The two gangsters obeyed their boss's earlier order and carried Batman out of the building, just before it collapsed.

YJYJYJYJ

After the Building Collapsed

Cardinal and Robin reached the edge of the building, but the fire was still going strong. The young fire controller looked at the fire, and placed her hand out in front of her, palms facing out, and moved her arms. The fire obeyed her power and parted, giving them a way through.

They got to the area where Batman was fighting, but they were surprised to only find four of the gangsters. Robin looked around and saw the small statue, and when he inspected it closer, he saw a trace of blood. He didn't pick the statue up, but pressed a part of his left glove and his holographic computer popped up. The boy then did some typing and a beam shot from his glove, it scanned the entire surface of the statue, and found fingerprints.

Once the prints were on the computer screen, Robin typed and the computer started running them through the bat computer's database.

"Found something, huh." Cardinal said as she stopped her part of the search when she heard her brother's computer working.

"Yea, fingerprints, I'm running them through the Bat Computer." Robin said, and just as he finished, the computer screen started to glow green. "The computer found a match… Oh my gosh; it can't be."

"What… oh man, we have to find Batman." Cardinal said as she looked at her brother's computer, only to have the same reaction as Robin.

"I can lock in on Batman's tracker signal." Robin stated as he closed down the fingerprint screen and started typing to find Batman.

As Robin was working, Cardinal started working to get the fire under control. Just as she got it to a manageable level, they heard the fire trucks coming.

"Got it… oh man, this night just gets worse and worse." Robin stated as the horror in his voice was now very noticeable.

"Oh man, we have to go help him, and now." Cardinal said as she noticed the location, but then she was brought out of her dread by the sirens of the fire trucks. The twins then faded into the shadows and escaped the building, after tying up the gangsters that had been left behind and leaving them in a clear area.


	13. Chapter 13

Surprise, 2 chapters in one night for the same story, well Chapter 12 was finished last night, but I wanted to post them together.

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><p>Chapter 13<p>

One Hour Later

Batman started to wake up from that blow he took back at the jewelry shop, and started to get up. It didn't take him long to realize he was unable to move, and when he inspected his wrists; they were tied down to some kind of board.

The Dark Knight looked around, and realized he was in the place that two young lives were changed forever, Haley's Circus. Just as he tried again to move, he saw a shadow coming toward him, and once the shadow came into the light, Batman gave his famous Bat-glare.

"Zucco, decided to return to your old tricks I see." Batman said.

"Well you know, when you're good at something, you stick to it." Zucco said as he got a slight smile on his face.

"So, what now, Zucco." Batman retorted.

"Now, I finish you once and for all. I thought I'd gotten rid of you when that bomb went off last year, but apparently I didn't. Time to remedy that." Zucco answered as he turned away from his captive, then turned back and had a gun aimed right at him.

Batman got a slight look of worry, and he had every reason to have that look. The reason being is that Zucco got a big smile on his face, and started to pull the trigger. The gun fired, and Batman was about to be hit, when all of a sudden, a wall of fire appeared between the bullet and its intended victim.

Batman was surprised at first, and then got a smirk on his face for standing in front of him was Cardinal. The girl was holding her hands out to control the shield, and Zucco noticed the new addition.

"So, Batman has a daughter, how cute. Guess I'll have to take her out too." Zucco said as he lifted the gun again.

"Try it, Zucco." Cardinal said as she got a glare of her own, and lowered her shield. Zucco decided not to shoot the girl; he wanted to beat her up the old fashioned way.

The mob boss ran toward Cardinal and the two started fighting. Zucco was throwing every street punch and kick he knew at her, but she was blocking every one of them. Little did the mob boss know that the fight with the young girl was just to distract him.

Robin jumped down right beside the board Batman was tied to, and pulled out one of his bird-a-rangs. He started to lightly cut at the ropes, as he didn't want to cut Batman himself. Just as he got about halfway through the first rope, he heard a loud moan, and recognized it. He looked around and saw Cardinal laying on the ground, then looked back to Batman. The Dark Knight nodded, not saying a word; and Robin understood that he had to go help his sister.

Zucco had gone to get something to knock Cardinal's head in with, but once he had a juggling pin and turned around, he was met with a flying round house kick. The mob boss went stumbling backward, and Robin then ran over to Cardinal, who was starting to come to.

Zucco regained his balance and was now mad.

"Didn't your parents teach you any manners." Zucco said as he started to stare down the kids.

At those words, both kids got angry and went to attack Zucco together. The mob boss was hoping that would set them off, seeing how kids always get mad when someone disses their parents. The twins were ready to attack from high and low, but Zucco ducked Robin's high backfist, and gave the boy a strong punch to the stomach. Robin went down, the wind knocked out of him. Cardinal saw this and got even angrier. She tried to go for a high knife hand punch, but Zucco caught her arm and kneed her in the stomach. Once both kids were down, the mob boss went to grab the juggling pin again and walked over to the two small bodies lying not far from Batman.

"I lost four of my best men to you back at the jewelry store, and now you're going to lose your two good friends here." Zucco stated as he raised the pin high above his head.

Batman was getting very angry, and pulling strongly at his bonds. Thanks to Robin, the Dark Knight was able to free his right hand, then swiftly grabbed a bat-a-rang and sliced the rope holding his left arm.

Zucco was about to strike Cardinal with the pin, Batman appeared behind him in the air and landed a high drop kick right into the mobster's back. The kick knocked Zucco about four feet away and into one of the poles that led to the trapeze. The kids started to get up and saw what was happening.

Scared out of his wits by this new side of Batman, Zucco started to climb the ladder to the trapeze stand. Once he got there, he looked down and didn't see the Dark Knight. All of a sudden, he turned around and Batman was there, and Zucco started to back away, but lost his balance as he reached the edge of the platform, thus he fell off.

"Zucco!" Batman hollered as he tried to catch him, but he didn't reach him in time.

The mobster was falling and Batman couldn't do anything to stop it. Just before Zucco hit the ground, he was grabbed to two hands. He looked up and saw the kids on ropes and they were swinging back toward the trapeze stand. The two kids landed and Zucco was slightly thrown against the pole itself; he looked at the kids, then passed out. Batman looked at the kids, and they both had slight scowls as they looked from Zucco to their mentor.

It was soon after that when the police arrived, and took Zucco away. Batman, Robin and Cardinal were standing on the edge of the circus grounds watching everything happen.

"You two did great work tonight." Batman said as he didn't move his gaze from the big top.

"Sorry we got out of hand for a moment, but Zucco just pressed the right button." Cardinal said.

"That may be so, but you did the right thing by not letting him hit the floor." Batman stated.

"That wouldn't bring our parents justice; he needs to be brought before a judge and jury." Robin said as he looked at Cardinal then to Batman.

"You two know that you'll have to testify at his trial. He won't be able to touch or hurt you again." Batman said as he looked down at them.

Cardinal looked Batman straight in the eye (well where the eye slits are, you get it.) "Like he could hurt us anymore, I'm glad to tell what happened."

"Same here." Robin said as he too looked at his mentor/father figure.

YJYJYJYJ

One Month Later

The trial of Tony Zucco for the death of John and Mary Grayson was going strong. There was one snag when Zucco's attorney asked the Commissioner of Police why Zucco was never brought to trial right after the couple was killed.

"We never found him that night, we did have a lead, but somehow we lost him again." Commissioner Gordon said after the attorney finished his question.

"So, you gave up looking for him after that, and yet, now you have him, a year later, and think he can be found guilty. I don't see how the witnesses can remember what happened a year ago." The attorney stated.

"I've visited the children of the victims, and with every visit, they had hope, but once I told them that we had no leads, they would start crying. The children watched their mother and father die, I don't think two 8 year old children can ever forget what happened before that." Gordon stated.

"I have no more questions for this witness." The attorney said as he turned and returned to his table.

"Commissioner, you may step down. Mr. Dent, please call your next witness." The judge said as she looked from Gordon to the A.D.A.

"Prosecution calls Reiena Grayson to the stand, your honor." The A.D.A. said.

"Very well, bailiff, please retrieve the witness." The judge said and with that order, the bailiff walked out the courtroom doors to the hallway. A minute later, the bailiff returned with the witness, and walked her to the front of the judge's stand.

The bailiff then grabbed the bible and held it down so Reiena could reach it.

"Place your right hand on the bible." The bailiff said, and the girl followed the order. "Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help you God."

"Yes, Sir, I do." Reiena answered.

"You may be seated."

Reiena took her place in the witness chair, and the prosecutor got up from his table.

"Miss Grayson, do you understand the oath you just took." The prosecutor asked.

"Yes sir, I promised to tell what really happen and not lie." Reiena said.

"Very good, now, can you tell us what happened the day your parents died."

"That day my brother was suppose to debut on the trapeze with our parents. We were walking through the circus area and heard shouting coming from Mr. Haley's trailer and ran over to see if we could hear anything, just as we arrived, the door flew open. Dick and I hid under the trailer, and all of a sudden, Zucco came storming out then stopped as soon has he was off the steps." Reiena started to tell.

"Please let the record show that the witness said the defendant was at the circus on the day in question. Now what happened next?" The prosecutor stated, then asked.

"The defendant said that Mr. Haley would be sorry for not getting protection, and that accidents can happen in a circus. After that, Mr. Haley said that he wouldn't pay for protection, and that his circus had never had an accident." Reiena continued.

"Thank you Miss Grayson. The prosecution has no more questions for this witness." A.D.A. Dent stated as he turned to look at the judge.

"Does the defense have any questions for this witness?" The judge asked.

"No sir, we are ready for the next witness." Zucco's attorney answered.

"The prosecution calls Richard Grayson to the stand." Dent said.

The bailiff went out and came back with the second part of the Grayson twins. Like with Reiena, the bailiff put Richard through the same thing.

"Mr. Grayson, we've heard from your sister about when you two first saw the defendant, and she has said it was him. We'd like to hear from you the next time you saw him." Dent informed the young witness.

"Well, Reiena and I went back to walking to the main tent to join our parents, but as we entered, the team that set up the trapeze and other areas was leaving out. The last person out looked right at us, and we recognized him as Zucco." Dick explained.

"Would you please tell us what happened next." Dent requested.

"We realized we had to tell our parents what was going on, but it was time for us to get ready for our acts. Reiena did her fire dance act and we, our parents and I, were up right after her. I was to enter the act about half way through, but just before I did, the rope that held the trapeze that dad was on started to fray, I saw this and called out to him, but it was too late, mom released her rope and when dad caught her, they both fell. We figured that Zucco wanted to show Mr. Haley that accidents can happen. Reiena and I watched our parents fall, and we can never forget what happened." Dick finished.

"Thank you Mr. Grayson; no more questions for this witness." Dent told the judge.

"Are there anymore questions for this witness?" The judge asked.

"No, your honor." Zucco's attorney answered.

"Very well then, the jury has heard all the evidence and testimony in the case of the people of Gotham City vs. Tony Zucco." The judge started to say. "Please deliberate among yourselves and come to a conclusion."

After the judge finished explaining what the jury was to do, the bailiff led them out of the room.

Two Hours Later

The court was called back to order, and Reiena, Bruce, Dick and Alfred were allowed to sit in the room this time, since the twins' testimony was already in evidence. The four of them, along with the others in the courtroom watched as the jury returned to their seats.

"Will the defendant please rise." The judge stated. "Jury, have you reached a verdict?"

"Yes, your honor, we have. We, the jury, find the defendant, Tony Zucco, guilty of two counts of murder." The jury foreperson said.

"Thank you. The jury is dismissed with the thanks of the court." The judge said. "Tony Zucco, you are hereby sentenced to 50 years in jail. Bailiff, remove the convict."

Reiena and Dick felt like their world brighten a bit; the man that took their parents from them was finally brought to justice. Reiena looked down then to Bruce.

"Can we stop by the cemetery on the way home?" Reiena asked.

"Of course, you have to tell John and Mary the good news." Bruce said as he stood up, then Alfred, Dick and Reiena followed.

YJYJYJYJ

The cemetery was quiet as usual, but the kids had to stop by and let their parents know that they were okay.

Bruce and the twins arrived at the spot they wanted to. Reiena carried a bouquet of flowers, and placed them on the dual headstone.

"Mom, dad; me and Dick have some good news. The man that did this to you is in jail, and he can't hurt anymore families." Reiena said as she walked back to Bruce and her brother.

"Also, Bruce adopted us, but it's not because he wanted to replace you guys, because he wanted to protect us and give us a great home." Dick said.

"John, Mary; I have to say that you raised two fine children. I promise I'll take care of them. Also, they were very eager to help bring your killer to justice." Bruce informed them.

"We just wanted to come and let you know, and we'll come back at every anniversary and birthday to say hi." Reiena said as her eyes started to fill with tears.

"Bye mom, bye dad. See you soon." Dick said as he walked up beside Reiena and placed a hand on her shoulder.

Bruce walked up beside both of them and gave a smile. The three of them then left the graveyard and returned to the car, the children feeling closure about what happened with their parents, and that they have a mission in life, to help keep the same thing from happening to others.

* * *

><p>I'm sure some people will think the ending is crappy, but that's how I wanted it to happen. Part of this chapter also shows that I watch Law and Order too much, I think I was pretty dang close with the courtroom scene. Anyway, I have one story I'm working on and two that were inspired by dream so I'm going to be busy for a while.<p> 


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